The present invention relates to improvements in boots primarily intended for ice skating but equally to roller blade use and roller skating use since each of these sports generally requires lateral bending and straightening of the ankle when the skater imparts force to the skating surface during a skating stroke. It is well known that, particularly in skating at high levels such as in professional and high level amateur hockey, the skater""s boot is repeatedly subjected to considerable stress and repeated flexing in a number of different direction, particularly in the ankle cuff area of the boot and in the tongue area of the boot.
The prior art is replete with various ice skate boots of leather, simulated leather and various plastics as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,885 issued Jun. 6, 1989 to Hosizaki et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,465 issued Apr. 7, 1987 to Schaeffer, each of which include various reinforcing panels affixed to the boot in areas subjected to substantial stress. Typically, the sections of the boots which are not subjected to substantial flexing are unreformed.
Since proper fit is considerably important for skaters to avoid slop or rubbing the skater""s foot or ankle in use of the boot for strenuous sports such as hockey, many hockey boots, particularly for professional skaters, are hand formed of leather, synthetic leather and plastic on a last made to the precise size and shape of the particular skater""s foot.
It is accordingly the primary objective of the present invention to provide a boot having a lower foot confining section which may be last formed and an upper section, each of leather or synthetic leather or similar materials, with a flexible ankle cuff section made of different material which completely replaces portions of the boot shell and tongue in the areas they occupy.
The present invention provides a boot comprising an upper section and a lower foot confining section formed of leather or synthetic leather and a tongue connected to said foot confining section; an ankle cuff section joined to and spacing said lower section from said upper section; said ankle cuff section being constructed of synthetic material of equal or greater flexibility than said lower and said upper sections of said boot.
The present invention further provides a skate boot comprising a lower section including a sole for receiving a skate attachment and a relatively soft foot confining section; a tongue having a lower portion connected to said foot confining section, a central portion connected to said lower portion and an upper portion connected to said central portion; an upper leg section; an ankle cuff section joined to said upper section and said foot confining section; said central tongue portion comprising a flexible tongue section adjacent said ankle cuff section; said ankle cuff section being of equal or greater flexibility than said lower and said upper sections of said boot. Such a boot may be made of leather or synthetic leather and custom formed by hand on a last to closely fit a skater""s precise foot dimensions so that the boot will quickly perform as if it had already been broken in. Since flexing primarily takes place in the flexible ankle and tongue portions, the boot continues to perform well beyond the break in period ordinarily experienced when using new skate boots due to reduced degradation of the leather or simulated leather sections of the boot.